How To Take Good Instagram Pictures

Today’s social media hack is all about taking good (like, super good!) Instagram pictures that’ll guarantee people stop mid scroll – on YOU – while perusing their feed.

We’re going to get you standing out like the Instagram celebrity you’re dying to be. Are you ready? Here are 5 Tips To Get You IG Worthy…

Tip #1: No selfies

Get your phones out of your own hands. There are so many cheap tripods available that can be shipped to you, next day, ready to use. Let’s say, though, you have no patience. Not to mention, spending an extra $15 isn’t in the budget. Well then, prop your phone up on something. A bookshelf, chair, or a backpack.

Look, the less selfies we take, the better. This isn’t 2012. If we see your arm clearly holding up your phone, we’re going to be a lot less interested and your post is going to be a lot less worthy, aesthetically, than if you were to detach from your phone altogether. Step away and allow for more free space.

Once you set your phone up, you could buy a remote timer and just, simply, press a button. Or you could use the free built-in timer feature that almost all smartphones have. Once you click that button, you can run over to wherever you want as the timer counts down. Get all prepped and your big smile ready. And then, the phone will take the photo for you.

Tip #2: Have a clear focal point or focus of your photo

Avoid having trees, crowds, a busy background, or environments with lots of shadows. Generally, more clutter (i.e., more things going on in a photo) is less appealing to our eyes. That’s because we, the scroller, don’t know what to focus on.

If you’re using a DSLR or any other kind of professional camera, this will be a lot easier because of the depth of field. Depth of field is that blurry background feature we all love. It’s also available in focus mode on the Instagram stories camera. The reason why this effect is so sought after in professional photography (and video) is that it clearly allows our eyes to know what to focus on.

There are lots of apps available in both the App store and the Google Play store that allow you to do a fake depth of field. Which, basically, gives you the option to put in that blur after you’ve already taken the photo.

When we’re scrolling through our feed seeing hundreds, if not thousands, of photos in a day, it’s quite appealing to see a post that our eye can easily understand what to focus on.

Tip #3: The rule of thirds

The rule of thirds is essentially a photography standard that informs you of where the most exciting or interesting pieces of an image should be. In essence, if you were to take your photo and divide it into thirds – both vertically and horizontally – you’d create nine little boxes. Another way to think about it is…

In your imagination, lay the game of Tic-Tac-Toe over the top of your photo (as seen below). Where those lines intersect, are the most eye catching parts of your photo. When you watch newscasters, their heads aren’t perfectly centered in the middle of the screen, for example. Typically, their head is on the upper third line.